Robert Carrigan of Sunnyside arrives at Stapleton Criminal Court, where he was arraigned on charges of vehicular assault and driving while intoxicated.Michael Oates

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Prosecutors said yesterday that a witness saw 23-year-old Robert Carrigan step out of the driver's seat following Monday's single-car drunken-driving wreck that left one of his passengers gravely injured.

That new detail emerged at Carrigan's arraignment Tuesday in Stapleton Criminal Court on vehicular assault and driving while intoxicated charges, as his passenger Dean Goff, 22, remained in a medically induced coma, his survival in doubt.

Carrigan, of Northern Boulevard in Sunnyside, was driving a 2000 Nissan Maxima about 5:15 a.m. when he lost control of the car and slammed into a utility pole at the corner of Amboy Road and Dale Avenue.

The crash took place just a few hours after another, unrelated wreck on the Staten Island Expressway, in which police say an alleged drunken, wrong-way driver crashed into a car going in the correct direction, killing a 29-year-old woman in the process.

Before his crash, Carrigan had been drinking at Dannyboy's Tavern in Castleton Corners, Assistant District Attorney Ann Heo said at Tuesday's arraignment. Ms. Heo said police found a 22-ounce can of Budweiser and a bottle of Corona amid the wreckage.

Goff suffered three broken neck bones and a broken back, and remains in a medically induced coma and on life support, she said. Ms. Heo told Judge Alan J. Meyer that Goff is not expected to survive his injuries.

As of Tuesday night, he was still listed in critical condition in the Intensive Care Unit of Staten Island University Hospital, Ocean Breeze, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Carrigan "had bloodshot, watery eyes, slurred speech, was unsteady on his feet, had a flushed face, and had a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage on his face," according to the criminal complaint against him. He refused to take a blood alcohol test at the scene, but police drew blood at the hospital, sources said.

Meyer set Carrigan's bail at $35,000, and scheduled his next court appearance for Jan. 29. He was expected to make bail, his lawyer, James O'Halloran, said at the proceeding.

Carrigan's mother and stepfather watched from the courtroom gallery. They declined comment afterwards, as did O'Halloran. 

Meanwhile, the suspect in Monday morning's fatal crash on the Expressway has yet to make his first court appearance in the case.

The suspect in that case, Jared Reifschneider, 27, suffered a broken hip and shoulder and will likely be arraigned at his hospital bed, his lawyer, Mario Gallucci, said Tuesday.

Police say Reifschneider, of the 100 block of Hooper Avenue in Bay Terrace, was driving a 2007 Toyota Camry the wrong way in the westbound lanes, near the South Avenue exit, when he hit a 2012 Camry going the right way.

The passenger in the 2012 Camry, Raffaella Russo, 29 -- an Italian citizen who worked at a company with offices both in Italy and Stamford, Conn. -- died at the scene, police said.

Gallucci said yesterday that his office would be conducting its own investigation into the crash.

"We're investigating whether my client was in fact driving in the wrong direction. Although the way the cars ended up after the fact indicates he may have been, an accident reconstruction specialist may come to a different conclusion," Gallucci said.---Follow @siadvance on Twitter